The name Transit Crew dates back to December 1987 when the original band, which comprised drummer Munya Brown (former Misty-in Roots), Tendai Gamure, aka Culture T and Emmanuel Frank, both on vocals, Munyaradzi Nyemba on bass, Samaita Zindi on guitar, Themba Jacobs on guitar and Anthony Leba Amon on keyboards got together.
By Fred Zindi
Jacobs left the band in 1994 when South Africa achieved independence where he went to work for SABC as a reporter. Two of the original members — Culture T and Munya Nyemba — have since passed on, leaving the present Transit Crew with Amon and Zindi as the remaining members from the original crew.
After the release of the single, Zimbabwean Girl in 1990, a successful tour of Japan followed. The tour was meant to last just six weeks, but the band got so popular with the Japanese youth who all chanted “Jah Rastafari” to the extent that the tour had to last a further 20 weeks.
In the early 1990s after their return from Japan, Transit Crew were joined by Reggae Dunhill as the lead singer and became the main support act for Jamaican artists who visited Zimbabwe, such as Culture, Dennis Brown, Ijahman Levi, Eric Donaldson and Shabba Ranks. They were also the backing band for British- based reggae artist called Benjamin Zephania in the late 1990s. They also performed with the late South African reggae icon, Lucky Dube, at the Macufe Festival in Bloemfontein before he was murdered in Johannesburg in 2008.
In 2008, Transit Crew became the backing band for visiting Jamaican singer, Luciano in Zimbabwe.
On the March 1 2010, Transit Crew successfully backed Sizzla Kalonje from Jamaica during his farewell from Zimbabwe party (see YouTube video under Transit Crew)
On November 27 and December 4 2010, The Spillway venue at Lake Chivero in Harare and Pamuzinda were respectively set ablaze by British-based Jamaican artist King Sounds on his visit to Zimbabwe where he was backed by Transit Crew with the help of three female backing vocalists, Hope Masike, Thanda Richardson and Vimbai Zimuto and three men from the police band on the brass section.
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King Sounds was very impressed by the band. In his own words, he had this to say, “ I never thought there was a band in Africa which plays reggae just like the Jamaicans do. At first I was reluctant to come to Zimbabwe without my own band but after seeing the budget Biscuit [Obadiah Moyo] gave us, I took a chance and agreed to come without them. This way, I saved the promoter a lot of money by agreeing to be backed by a Zimbabwean band, but it was worth it. I am impressed by Transit Crew.
From now on I am going to tell fellow musicians in Jamaica and the UK about Transit Crew.” This week, on December 2, Transit Crew will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a gigantic musical reunion, a highlight of its happy, humourous and impressive history. It will also launch its fifth album, Zimbabwean Girls at Ambassador Hotel in Harare and will be supported by Sound House, another reggae outfit from Glen Norah. Many of the musicians who will play in the reunion are those who have been responsible for establishing the band’s unique position in the Zimbabwean community and its fame throughout the country. Although beset by financial worries, rival groups and splits in the past in its effort to re-establish itself, the group has always in its 30 years managed to entertain its audiences and have had a good time doing it.
Today’s Transit Crew members consist of drummer, Adam Muchenje, Anthony Amon on keyboards, Zindi on guitar, Master Pablo Nakappa on bass, Learnmore Mhlanga on second keyboards and a fresh new vocalist, Tawanda Mandirahwe, popularly known as Destiny.
This union of the above crew has resulted in the production of a new album namely Zimbabwean Girls which was taken from the 1990 single with the same title.
Previously the band’s albums Sounds Playing, The Message and Money were well-received nationally and internationally and helped to establish Transit Crew as a formidable reggae outfit. The last album by the same band titled Unity was released in 2009 almost eight years ago. The11-track album, which is solidly deep roots rock reggae with one instrumental track featuring Mono Mukundu, a Zimbabwean guitar icon and producer, has captured the hearts of many reggae lovers.
It has taken Transit Crew many years before the release of a new album due to the long search for both original music and the right voices to fit in it. A lot of people have been wondering why a band which has been in existence for three decades has only released five albums. The band took a hiatus in album- release between 2000 and 2009. Since 2008, the band has been fronted by Mic Inity followed by Rungano Chaza, Solomon Tok aka Rutsman Spice, Mannex Motsi, Cello Culture and Geoffrey Sithole aka J Farai. It was in 2009 that the band decided to release Unity, the album which featured Motsi, Chaza (whose composition Muti became phenomenal) and J Farai.
This year the band recruited Destiny and went into the recording studio straight away, which resulted in the current release of Zimbabwean Girls which is now playing on all media platforms and will be launched next Saturday. The album is dedicated to all the fallen musical heroes who include Culture T, Munyaradzi “Bhudhi” Nyemba and Comrade “Chinx” Chingaira (who, in my opinion, in view of the change in leadership, should be exhumed from Glen Forest Cemetary and reburied at Heroes Acre). These three and many other late musicians are featured on track number 2 of the album titled Tsuri Yorira.
The album has also been boosted by the input from students at the Zimbabwe College of Music, namely Tirivashe Zambuko and Florence Muteta, both playing the saxophone, while Theophilus Chitanda plays the trumpet with Precious Mapurisa supplying additional voice.
So it is skanking time for all reggae lovers once more next Saturday as we celebrate the coming in of a new era.
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